Happy New Year! On the first of the month I usually share my book club’s selection. But since today is the first day of a brand new year, I thought it fitting to share all the books we are reading in 2019. There is a mix of genres — romance, suspense, Biblical, historical — something for everyone. We would love for you to join us. Check out our FB page.

January — Chosen People by Robert WhitlowFebruary — Five Brides by Eva Marie Everson March — Delayed Justice by Cara PutmanApril — The Sky Above Us by Sarah SundinMay — Mind Games by Nancy MehlJune — Almost Home by Valerie Fraser LuesseJuly — The Curse of Misty Wayfair by Jaime Jo WrightAugust — The Memory House by Rachel HauckSeptember — The Cost of Betrayal by Dee Henderson/Lynette Eason/Dani PettreyOctober — Judah’s Wife by Angela Hunt November — Crisis Shot by Janice CantoreDecember — Christmas book

Because the number of books on my shelf, Kindle, and wish lists don’t equal the amount of free time I have to read, i have *gasp* unread books by favorite authors. Those are the books that whisper the loudest read me as I pass their resting place. Many of the books have been waiting many years; others are more recent additions. Some, when read, will put a finished check mark next to a series. I have every intention of reading them all! That Artsy Reader Girl wants us to fess up this week and share those deserving titles. Have you read any of the books on my list? Tell me which one I should read next.

no·vel·la

noun1. a short novel or long short story.

Yep, that is the official definition of novella, the subject of this week’s Top Ten Tuesday. As in the case of their longer cousins, novellas span genres and styles — historical, contemporary, suspense, romance — there is something for everyone! Looking at the varying forms novellas take, I have come up with a few categories. What do you think?

Top Novellas

The Complimentary Novella — books that are written to introduce or compliment a novel series. These help to fill in the blanks, as well as entice a reader with a quick read. They are often prequels to the main story.

An Awakened Heart (An Orphan Train Novella) by Jody Hedund

Then Came You (A Bradford Sisters novella) by Becky Wade

Interrelated Novella Collection — these 2-4 novella collections often have several authors all writing within a continuing storyline. The examples I have chosen either follow different members of a family, involve characters connected with a place, and/or tell the story from different characters’ points of view.

Standalone Novellas — a complete, unto itself story, just in novella length. I have found that there are lots of novellas published with Christmas themes — great for quick reading during a very busy time of year.

Valentine’s Day is all about love and romance. And who doesn’t like a good love story? You know the kind. Heroic hero who loves you no matter what, a love that transcends time, a story that stays with you long after the last page is turned. That Artsy Reader Girl has allowed bloggers a Love Freebie this week on Top 10 Tuesday, so I am sharing Biblical love stories because no one loves like God. These novels involve flawed characters, messy (and sometimes disgusting) situations, and a God who is indeed the lover of our souls. I’m sharing books based on OT stories, the ones that you know from Sunday School, but may have never read in quite this way. Well-researched, these books don’t always have God-honoring elements (because let’s face it, God’s people often have their own agenda), but they do have at the center a God who loves unconditionally even when the characters (and we) mess up.

So many books, so little time . . . . That should have been my motto in 2017. Like a child who fills her plate with more than she can eat, I filled my bookshelves with more books than I could read. Am I complaining? Not really. I am a cock-eyed optimist when it comes to books — I am sure that I will one day get all the books stacked around my home read. But for now I give you the Top 10 Books I Didn’t Read in 2017. This is a list of my reading regrets. And I intend to get them read soon. Which one should I start with first?

Oh the places you’ll go . . . when you are in a book! This week the folks at The Broke And Bookish are talking settings. You can travel just about anywhere without leaving your chair, which comes in handy if you are short of money, or the place you want to go requires a time capsule or a space ship! Want to know where other bloggers have been traveling? Click HERE. Bon voyage!

Top 10 Book Settings

I’ve been to lots of places thanks to a book — mountains, jungles, Merry Olde England, the Middle East . . . . You name it, I’ve probably been there. But that would mean this post ought to be titled Top 1000s of Book Settings. In order to fit within the theme’s parameters, I have chosen 10 beautiful and/or unique settings that I have encountered in my reading this year — settings that made reading a deeper experience. I’ve included both contemporary and historical novels that showed me a different world or a destination that’s fit for a bucket list. Hope you enjoy the trip!

Gathering four stories from four bestselling author friends, Invitation is the first collection in the ongoing Harbingers series.

In The Call by Bill Myers, four strangers are drawn together to help a student at the mysterious Institute for Advanced Psychic Studies. His gifts are supposedly being honed to assist world leaders . . . but there are some very disturbing strings attached. Frank Peretti’s The Haunted confronts a supernatural mystery, a case of murder, and an exploration into the darkness of the human heart, all centering around a mysterious house.

In Angela Hunt’s The Sentinels, animals around the world are mysteriously dying. What could it mean? When the tragedy begins to touch Andi’s dreams, she discovers a terrifying theory. The Girl by Alton Gansky is a gripping tale of a young barefoot girl found holding a scroll in the snowy Oregon mountains. She is sweet, innocent–apparently not of this world — and something wants to kill her.

Bill Myersis an American Christian author, film director and film producer. He was born in Seattle, Washington on September 9, 1953.

Myers is most notable for the animated series The Adventures of McGee and Me. He is an author of books from many genres, including comedy, horror, thriller, fiction, and non-fiction. He has written over 80 books.

Frank Perettiis a New York Times best-selling author of Christian fiction, whose novels primarily focus on the supernatural. To date, his works have sold over 15 million copies worldwide. Peretti is best known for his novels This Present Darkness (1986) and Piercing the Darkness (1989). Peretti has held ministry credentials with the Assemblies of God, and formerly played the banjo in a bluegrass band called Northern Cross. He now lives in Coeur d’Alene Idaho with his wife, Barbara.

Angela Elwell Hunt is a prolific Christian author, and her books include The Tale of Three Trees,The Debt,The Note, and The Nativity Story, among others.

Alton Ganskyis an American novelist in the Christian fiction genre. He has written 6 non-fiction books and 23 novels, three of which were co-authored with former Army Ranger Jeff Struecker. In 2012 Gansky and Struecker’s Fallen Angel was honored as the American Christian Fiction Writers’ “top thriller” of that year.

My Impressions:

I didn’t really know what to expect when I chose Invitation to read and review. Oh, I knew that the 4-novella collection was authored by some of the best authors in the field of Christian fiction, and that I have never been disappointed by anything they have written. I also knew that their writing style, characterization, and plot-development suited my reading tastes. But I didn’t know I would be led on a challenging and twisting journey that included mind-bending situations. Invitation is speculative fiction at its best. It has a unique format that suits the genre well — short, episodic novellas, changing points of view, and story lines which at first seem unrelated, but soon come together in a coherent manner. There is something weird going on, and this reader enjoyed every minute.

Each novella in the collection has a different author and the unique voice of one of the four main characters. Four very different people with strange gifts are brought together in what can only be called a supernatural way. And try as they might, they cannot keep from forming a team to investigate and somehow impact weird happenings. I loved how the authors’ collaboration brought forth a cohesive whole. This cannot possibly be easy to achieve, but they somehow managed to achieve unique stories within a consistent framework.

Evil seems to be having its way in Invitation, but there is a sense that God is at work in big ways in the world and in the lives of the main characters. I think the spiritual journey each character embarks on is my favorite part. As each challenge is met, the characters learn more about themselves and their place within a spiritual world. Each novella is wrapped up in Invitation, but the story is far from over. Invitation is just the first novella collection in this series.

Invitation is gritty and edgy; not your typical CF. So don’t be surprised if this book takes you places you didn’t expect with characters that don’t often show up in normal novels. You just need to do what I did — sit back and let the authors take you on a trip you won’t forget.

Recommended for fans of speculative fiction.

Audience: adults.

To purchase, click HERE.

(Thanks to Bethany House for a complimentary copy. All opinions expressed are mine alone.)

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